The acronym RICO is listed in two Tort claims filed today against the County of Union and Office of the Prosecutor and names Prosecutor Theodore Romankow along with John & Jane Does 1-23. RICO stands for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Title 59, known as the New Jersey Tort Claims Act, is the controlling authority for how to proceed in an action for personal injury against a public entity. If you were injured on public property or by a public entity or public employee, you MUST file a Notice of Tort Claim against that entity.

The Notice of Tort Claim form must be filled out and served to the public entity by the 90th day after the accident occurred. The form alerts the public entity of the incident and gives them time to conduct an investigation and decide if it would like to settle the matter with the claimant before the claimant files a lawsuit. Per Title 59, a claimant must wait six months after the filing of the Notice of Tort Claim before being permitted to file a lawsuit against the public entity.

There isn’t any detail listed in the claims. We’ll have to wait until the lawsuit is filed, or the county settles the claim. Both claims list fraud, violation of state and federal civil, criminal and constitutional statutes, violation of federal and state RICO.

On one Tort the claimant is listed as Special Needs Trust Fund FBO Edmund J. Rotchford III, the Tort was filed by the Trustee of the Estate for the amount of 812,000.

The other tort claimant is the Estate of Joann M. Rotchford, filed by the Executor, the amount of the claim is 3,870,000.64 (yes 64 cents is listed. That is Three Million, Eight Hundred Seventy Thousand and sixty four cents.)

We’ll just have to wait out the six months for the lawsuit to be filed, or see the county’s settlement, to get more details on this.